Story of my Brunei Car

             This story happened in1996. Now this area changed so much that these beach houses were not there any more in Brunei.

My Brunei car Toyota DX KC 2733 

              

      Kuala Belait is the second largest town in Brunei after Bandar Seri Begawan.

              When I got a job at Panaga, Kuala Belait, it was one of the best working experience in my life. Salary was good. In those days, the conversion rate was about Rm 2.5 to B$1,so it's still good ( now the rate is about Rm 3 to B$1 ). Free accomodation was provided with free electricity and water usage.

           It was my first time working abroad and just 20 minutes flight from Kota Kinabalu, my hometown.😉

On arrival, a car was provided for a week and cash of B$500 to buy the basic necessities for daily use until I received my first pay.

Brunei Shell Petroleum Company head office

Free car for 1 week, a Volkswagen  

      A car is necessary in Brunei. There was no public transport to where I want to go without a car. So I bought a second hand car from a friend for B$2000. Toyota DX with Brunei plate number KC 2733

Arrival of DX KC2733 

 When there wasn't any other transport apart from my own, I was grateful whatever I had, even though it's old 😉😉😉and it never  give me any problem when i became the owner of that car😂

    Since then,  DX had been my companion. Brunei road are smooth unlike the roads in Sabah. You can tell the difference when you drive your car in Sabah and Brunei i.e. the road surface etc. Not easy to describe, you had to experience it to understand what I mean. There were not many cars in Kuala Belait in those days so I am not sure if it's still the same now? Hardly any traffic jams, except at check points between Brunei and Miri. 

         During school holidays, my children would fly over to spend time in Brunei with me. They, too, had happy memories of DX in Brunei especially driving along the beach.

DX KC 2733 parked outside my accommodation, provided by the company.

DX, my saviour and companion in Brunei

Pathway to the beach from my accommodation.

                    One of the best experience with DX was driving all the way to Jerudung Park on the 16th July 1996 for  the free Michael Jackson Concert at Jerudong Park!  It's a privilege to watch the King of Pop performing live and it's free! 💓💓💓 I was a big fan of Michael Jackson.

When my contract ended, I decided to bring DX back for good. I wrote to  Malaysia's ministry of foreign affairs and received approval letter to transfer DX. Together, with a friend, we drove DX home to Kota Kinabalu passing many routes in and out of Brunei and Sarawak. When you looked at the map which I had drawn, it will give you an idea what I mean.

It’s a 6-8 hours drive from Brunei to Kota Kinabalu

There were 8 check points we had to go through with 8 immigration and custom checks

Therefore, ending us up with 8 immigration stamps in our passport- 2 pages full. And that was only 1 way. For those with return trip, they ended up with 4 pages full of 16 immigration stamps😂😂😂 

Arrival of DX -Home Sweet Home

With the necessary documents, DX KC 2733 became 2512, Christmas Day date. It's a blessed car!

New ownership of DX - My Son

On my son's 18th birthday, I gave DX 2512 to him as his present. He loves it to bits and still do. To him, it's a legendary car with lots of meaningful memories in it.